Laryngoscope with camera attachment

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to medical devices for carrying out internal examination, such as laryngoscopes. The laryngoscope is provided with a camera element within a channel inside the blade.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of prior application Ser. No. 10/554,812, filed Nov. 30, 2006, which is the National Stage of International Application No. PCT/GB04/01869, filed Apr. 29, 2004.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to medical devices for carrying out internal examination and relates particularly to laryngoscopes that incorporate image capturing means such as a camera to assist intubation of a tracheal tube.

Insertion of a tracheal tube is an important procedure in providing an airway to an anaesthetist prior to a surgical operation. Tracheal tubes also often need to be inserted in an emergency situation into the airway of an unconscious patient by paramedics or doctors. Insertion of a tracheal tube requires significant skill, and laryngoscopes are generally used to assist the insertion of the tube by restraining the patient's tongue and allowing a clear view of the larynx and the entrance to the trachea. Considerable skill and care is required in carrying out this procedure in order to avoid damage to the patient's teeth and soft tissue of the throat.

Often problems occur when a practitioner is attempting to intubate a patient using a laryngoscope as it can be difficult for the practitioner to see what is going on.

Figures show that in approximately 12% of cases trauma occurs during intubation (which affects a large number of people when you consider there are over 40 million intubations carried out annually). Also, during the 1980s and 1990s, 2500 deaths (or approximately 3 per week) occurred in Europe due to an inability to intubate and these figures have not changed substantially in recent years. Airway problems remain the most frequent cause of death or permanent brain damage associated with anaesthesia.

Generally, laryngoscopes consist of a handle, or body, portion and a blade portion. Certain devices have been developed which incorporate a camera element attached to the blade. However, this has led to issues relating to the cleaning of the laryngoscope before re-use. Obviously in order to use a laryngoscope on a patient, it is important to know that the laryngoscope is cleaned sufficiently and there is no risk of cross contamination between patients. There is evidence to show that standard cleaning procedures are not always fully effective at removing contaminants such as bacteria from the laryngoscope (J R Hall. “Blood contamination of equipment . . . ” Anaesthesia and Analgesia. 1994; 78:1136-9 M D Ester, L C Baines, D J Wilkinson & R M Langford. “Decontamination of Laryngoscopes: a survey of national practice.” Anaesthesia, 1999, 54).

Typically, to clean a laryngoscope, the blade is soaked and autoclaved. The handle can undergo a similar procedure or can simply be wiped down as it does not make contact with the patient as the blade does. The cleaning takes a significant amount of time, which means that it is necessary to have a number of handles and blades in rotation to ensure that there are always clean laryngoscopes available if required. This results in a time consuming and costly procedure needing to be put in place. Obviously the cleaning procedure is significantly more difficult when there is also a camera element that requires cleaning and this can cause significant delays and a cost implication. This means that laryngoscopes incorporating camera elements are rarely used in practice.

In order to try and overcome the issues associated with the use of laryngoscopes and similar medical devices, a number of alternative device products have been suggested or developed. For example, disposable blades are available for use, however, these can be lacking in strength and only allow the most basic airway opening to be achieved due to their relative simplicity of design. Protective sheaths can also be used which slip over a standard laryngoscope blade to act as a guard. While useful, it is optional to a user whether the sheath is used or not. For the user, existing blades perform better without the sheath, which distorts light output and, as a result, existing sheaths are rarely used.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention seek to improve upon the products described in the prior art.

Throughout this application the term blade should be read in a broad sense to cover not only laryngoscope blades but also to cover speculums or elements that are inserted into body cavities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a medical device for carrying out internal examination, comprising a body portion and a blade portion, characterised in that the blade portion comprises an at least partially rigid probe means which is at least partially transparent and through which a channel partially runs and wherein an image capture means is provided within the channel. In an alternative embodiment there may be a light source provided in the channel. This may be associated with the camera element if desired.

In this instance, rigid should be construed as providing sufficient structural integrity to hold its own form under normal conditions. For example, as well as materials such as plastics and metals, rubber materials that are able to hold their own shape, but have some resistance if compressed, i.e., dropped or stood on.

Optionally, the entire rigid probe means is transparent.

Preferably, at least part of the transparent section of the rigid probe means forms a lens for use with the image capture means.

Optionally, lenses can be used to transfer image and/or light through a curved or angled portion of the blade.

Optionally, reflecting means can be used to transfer image and/or light through a curved or angled portion of the blade.

Preferably the rigid probe means has a spatulate shape.

Preferably the image capture means is a camera.

Optionally the image capture means is a fibre optic cable that is able to transmit an image.

Preferably, the medical device for carrying out internal examination is a laryngoscope.

Preferably a light source is provided in the channel.

Optionally, a strengthening element is provided in the channel.

Preferably the strengthening element is in the form of a steel rod which could have any appropriate cross-section.

Preferably the body section is provided with a screen for showing the images captured by the image capturing means and any other information.

Preferably data and power is transferred between the body element and the blade element wirelessly.

Preferably data and power is transferred between the body element and the blade element via contact points present on both the body element and the blade element.

Alternatively data is transferred between the body element and the blade element by optical transfer means.

Alternatively data is transferred between the body element and the blade element by radio frequency transfer means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rigid probe means for use with medical devices for internal examination, characterised in that the rigid probe means is at least partially transparent and has a channel running partially through it.

Preferably the channel runs-in a longitudinal direction.

Optionally, the entire rigid probe means is transparent.

Preferably, at least part of the rigid probe means forms a lens.

Preferably the rigid probe means has a spatulate shape.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to provide a better understanding of the present invention, embodiments will now be described by way of example only, and with reference to the following Figures, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a drawing of a laryngoscope according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 shows a drawing of a laryngoscope according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 shows a drawing of the contact strips according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the medical device is a laryngoscope which can be used for intubation of a tracheal tube.

A laryngoscope 1 is provided which has a body 2 and a disposable blade 3. In the preferred embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the blade 3 is made up from a rigid probe means 3 a that has a spatulate shape. The rigid probe means 3 a has an internal channel 6 which has a camera element 7 inserted into it, such that the camera element 7 does not come into contact with the patient. The camera element 7 is elongate in form, and has any appropriate cross-section. The end of the camera element 7 that is not inserted into the channel 6 attaches to the body section 2. As the rigid probe means 3 a fits over the camera element 7 like a sleeve, the camera element 7 will not come into contact with the patient during examination. This means that the camera element 7 that has been inserted into the channel 6 can be re-used while the rigid probe means 3 a, which forms the outer layer, can be discarded. The body 23 is provided with a screen 10 for showing the images captured by the camera element 7 and other information.

In an alternative embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the rigid probe means 3 a covers more of the length of the camera element 7 and attaches to the body section 2 of the laryngoscope 1 directly.

In the preferred embodiment, the rigid probe means 3 a is made from a transparent material, such as plastic or perspex. If additional strength is required, a strengthening element 5 can be inserted into the channel 6 within the rigid probe means 3 a, either as an integral element which can be discarded along with the rigid probe means 3 a after use, or as a reusable element which can optionally be attached to the body 2 of the laryngoscope 1, such that it can be inserted into the next rigid probe means 3 a that is to be used.

The laryngoscope 1 may have a screen 10, shown in dashed lines in FIG. 2, for showing the images captured by the camera element 7 and any other information. The screen 10 may couple to the body section 2.

The channel 6 can also be used to house a light source, which can be inserted into the channel 6 in the centre of the rigid probe means 3 a so that a practitioner can visualise a trachea to help in the positioning of a tracheal tube. The electrical components which run the camera element 7 or the light can be housed in the body 2 of the laryngoscope 1 or externally to the laryngoscope 1 and the relevant parts can simply be slipped in and out of the channel 6 and of the blade 3 when required. This again means that the blade 3 can be discarded with the expensive lighting or camera elements 7 being kept for further use, without them having ever been in contact with a patient.

In order to allow the blade 3 and body 2 to be easily separable, data is transferred wirelessly between the camera element 7 and the body 2, which contains electrical components that relate to the camera element 7. The wireless transfer is preferably via contact points in the form of contact strips 8 but can also be via optical data transfer methods or radio frequency data transfer methods. This use of wireless data transfer removes the need for a flying lead between the body 2 and blade 3 which make cleaning more difficult and can result in the laryngoscope 1 being clumsy to use.

The contact points are preferably in the form of conductive contact strips 8. In the preferred embodiment the strips 8 are formed partially on the camera element 7 and partially on the rigid probe means 3 a such that when the camera element 7 is inserted into the rigid probe means 3 a, the strips 8 a and 8 b are brought into contact to form continuous strips 8. In typical cases, there will be four contact strips 8, two for transferring data and two for transferring power (FIG. 3). The body 2 containing electrical components which run the camera element 7 is also provided with contact points and these will usually be in the form of retractable bearings 9 or retractable pins or other resiliently biased contact means.

These bearings or pins may also act as a gripping method to hold the blade 3 in place. Corresponding ratchet type tracks (preferably conductive) enables the blade 3 to be adjusted in length.

In order to miniaturise a camera element 7, at least part of the transparent section of the rigid probe means 3 a forms a lens 4, such that the camera element 7 itself does not require a lens, but can simply be slipped into the channel 6 of the blade 3. The lens 4 on the blade 3 acts then acts as a lens 4 for the camera element 7. This inclusion of the lens 4 into the disposable rigid probe means 3 a means that the camera element 7 can be smaller than is typically achievable, making it particularly suitable for use in a medical device, such as a laryngoscope 1.

One of the benefits of the disposability of the rigid probe means 3 a part of the blade 3 is that there will be no cross-contamination to patients, and no lengthy cleaning procedures are required. However, to further ensure that a blade 3 is not reused, it is possible to include a spoiling mechanism between the blade 3 and the body 2 of the laryngoscope 1. The spoiling mechanism can take the form of a breaking of electrical connections when the blade 3 and body 2 are parted, such that if the same blade 3 and body 2 are reconnected, no power is provided to anything inserted into the channel 6 of the blade 3. Alternatively, the blade 3 may comprise protrusions which are able to fix into ingressions in the body 2 of the laryngoscope 1, such that the protrusions break off when the blade 3 is removed from the body 2, such that the blade 3 cannot then be reused.

It can be seen that the current invention has a number of benefits over the prior art and a number of possible uses. Although the examples above relate to a laryngoscope, it can be seen that the concept can be extended to other medical and veterinary devices and still stay within the scope of the present invention. The fact that the blade 3 is fully disposable is also of great importance, as it means that practitioners are required to change blades and the product is both simple to use and cheap to manufacture.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the above embodiment has been described by way of example only, and not in any limiting sense, and that various alterations and modifications are possible without departure from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended Claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A laryngoscope comprising: a body portion; a blade portion further comprising a spatulate shaped probe means, the blade portion defining a channel therein, wherein the probe means is at least partially rigid and at least partially transparent; a strengthening element, a majority of which is located entirely within the channel, wherein the strengthening element is comprised of a rigid rod; and a camera located within the channel for capturing images of a patient's larynx, the camera isolated from contacting the patient by an outer layer provided by the channel; wherein the blade portion includes a lens for the camera.
 2. The laryngoscope of claim 1, wherein the probe means is entirely transparent.
 3. The laryngoscope of claim 1, further comprising a light source located entirely within the channel.
 4. The laryngoscope of claim 1, wherein the blade portion is characterized at least in part by a length and the channel runs along at least part of the length of the blade portion.
 5. The laryngoscope of claim 1, further comprising a display screen mounted on the body portion. 